School Ethos

Schooling is such an important issue to us parents!  I feel like hanging from the christmas branches and singing at the top of my voice...its like a weight has been lifted!! My daughter is finally happy and excelling in a school that actually really cares for ALL the children and has its ethos in the correct order in my opinion.

We have had such an awful time trying to fit in to a school (Hornsey School for Girls) that does not agree with our lifestyle, that has not been nourishing its children in the way that we would like to see and my child has really suffered from being there. Tensions between children within the school has been awful, and despite all of this the Head Teacher  chose to reduce the hours of one of the stars, their wonderful school counsellor who in my opinion is exemplary and a must in the school with all the ongoing conflicts. There is a handful of staff that were ports of call and wonderfully supportive thankfully but they clearly were under the leadership of the Head so had their hands tied as to what they could achieve there.

The motto of Hornsey is: ‘Learning – Achieving Excelling’ whilst the motto of the school my daughter now attends, The John Roan School, is:  Happiness. Friendship. Achievement.  Mnnnnn... what do you think is most important.

This ethos of Happiness and friendship first is clear in the school and the atmosphere is amazing! The community spirit really tangible not just a notion. And of course the kids are excelling, with the new Head the growth is huge and ongoing... from satisfactory to good on all counts and soon its a given.. outstanding.

My daughter refused to go to school in the end it was so bad, now I cannot keep her away. She has to travel all the way to Greenwich of course, but its no problem she is so happy there.

Sadly for her the schools she attended in Haringey both St Aidans and Hornsey School for Girls both let her down and she was deeply affected by the bullying that took place (a lot of it very subtle), some of it engineered by the parents who 'chose' who their children would be friends with. In St Aidans some of the children called her a nigger whilst in year 6 yet her teacher simply played it down and refused to accept that the children in question understood what the term meant! And she was supposed to be an outstanding teacher. We feel so let down by the schools she attended, a huge part of her school life that should have been fun and were friends should have been born has been taken from us.

So its such a wonderful relief that finally she is really happy and has a school that has its priorities in order and have what it calls 'the school family' at its heart.... truly inspiring!  Some Haringey schools have a lot to learn! 

Many of you will have a different story to tell thankfully, but I find it really sad that not all children and families feel included, I know we are far from the only ones, and this should not be the case.